Seven Devils
by Kickerbraut
Summary: They couldn't resist the war. They shattered under the pressure. They lost hope. Only some trust their hearts and are able to see clearly in the dark.
1. Prolog

**Seven Devils**

Prolog

It looked harmless at first. Just an open lawn in the royal hunting forest, which seemed wider than it should have been, stretched by the cloudless grayish sky above, which was limited by a red band at the end of the horizon. The dark trees, only shadows really, circled like monstrous creatures the now silent scenery before them. No bird sang a song, no animal of the forest was searching for food or a place to rest for the upcoming night. It was hard to imagine the lawn was touched ones by sunlight. Then the scene got interrupted, like an hour before.

Three newcomers carefully started to search the ground. One, the biggest of them with long, felted hair, walked like the tip of a triangle in front of the others. With every step they took, smoke escaped from the land, creeping up their legs and making the wizards cringe, even the big one. The smoke smelt like rot.

The big one was a bit faster than his comrades but stopped and turned on his heels when the slowest of the three fell like a sack on the wet ground.

"You spaz, co'centrate and watch your feet, we do not know wha's out there!" With this he gave the young wizard who was helping the one on the ground a furious look and continued to walk, missing the shock on both their faces.

"Stop Mad Eye, it's Dorcas Pete tripped over." Moody stopped on his tracks and didn't turn around immediately.

"Moody!", the young wizard called his name, as to tell him that he was, in fact, the leader of the little group and to decide, what was to happen next.

"What is she doin here?",

"What do I know, com'on, let's check if she's alive.", but before Moody could go back to the two wizards, the chubby one still staring silently at the witch before him, a scream shot through the air. A raven, pitch black, shot over their heads and cried as if it was in great pain. The young man on the ground stared at the bird knowingly till it was circling a tree behind them where the wizards apparated to a few minutes ago. The second it landed on the old birch, a witch appeared next to the tree and ran in the direction the wizards stood and sat.

"Raven!", shouted the young wizard next to the chubby one and stood up, like he was waiting for her for a while now.

"Where is he Moony?", the witch screamed back and ran past them as if running for life. The wizards just stared after her, in pure shock. In the middle of the lawn she became slower and started to bow down, searching for him while creeping through the knee high grass. The wizards shouted again, but she didn't hear them, the distance was too big. She whispered while focusing on the ground "No, no no, no, you weren't that stupid!". Her long hair fell like a wild curtain before her face, but her hands were near the ground, as if she would touch something soon. After some seconds, the young wizard approached her, slowly, careful not to scare the woman even more.

"I don't know if he's here Raven, I didn't speak to him.", she straightened up fast, so that her hair exposed her wet face. Her chin was trembling and her eyes focused on his face, slowly checking every millimeter of his skin. She stammered:

"Of course Remus. How could I forget. You two just stopped talking, stopped being friends, despite your best friends needing you now more than ever.", after she lay her hand over her mouth, as if wanting to stop herself, she continued through gritted teeth, "You two make me so sick! This is your fault! The fault of both of you bogarts!"

Remus watched her trembling chin, as if it was the most interesting part of the scene. He choked, stared at the ground and wanted to answer. But they both were interrupted by a shot of light that started from nowhere to the sky high above. Now not grey but dark, the sky was the perfect background for the green skull that emerged. Suddenly Raven fell forward onto Remus, who had problems catching her as she was as tall as him. He couldn't know what the high pitched voice in her head said.

"Now I got you!"


	2. House-trained

House-trained

Months earlier...

It was nerve-racking. Everybody watched her, as if they tried to read in her anxious face if she was any good for the task. Some faces she knew. Actually most of them. The marauders (did they still call themselves that, she mused) were sitting a few places left from her. There was the famous James Potter, in Jeans and T-Shirt that read "Just married". Next to him Lily Evans (now Potter?), Marlene McKinnon, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. One marauder of the four was missing. She couldn't remember his face but the name...Lupin. In front of her, across the table, Mad Eye Moody. She knew him from the papers. To his left and her right sat older people, the ones she didn't recognize, and then right next to her Emmeline Vance. Eleven People occupied seats around the small, cold room. Some managed to nod encouragingly into her direction, but most of them just were masks of reluctance.

"So, uhm, where's Dumbledore?"

"He couldn't make it and sent his apologies. But he welcomes you and hopes you're in good company through the day." That sounded like a joke to her, seeing that not really anybody cared to give her a pleasant time. Of course a pleasant time would be an obnoxious hope, considering the purpose of her arrival a few minutes ago, but at least they could give her a tea or something?

The room, where they were squeezed in like in a tin, was in the basement of a house that belonged to Marlene McKinnon and her brothers. It was easy to find, for it was the only house to be found in the region. The tall blond beauty that was McKinnon looked nearly as skeptical as Moody in front of her.

"I guess we can get over with this quickly. Moods?" They had all already introduced themselves. Most belonged ones to the house of Gryffindor of course, brave ones that weren't scared of the mission, she thought. After some awkward seconds, Raven breathed out loudly to show that she was waiting for their questions. Mad Eye Moody started.

"Your strange bird o'er there, won'it shit on someones head?" Raven looked the Auror in the eyes, mad eyes, as some may say. She didn't expect this question.

"He's house-trained, don't worry." Moody's face gave no reaction to that comment. He even ignored Black, who was shouting happily "Me too!" what earned him little laughter from around, although nobody except a few understood the joke, really.

Moody seemed to have no more questions, what was strange. Raven thought he was kind of the second leader in the Order. It seemed also that Lily Potter was as surprised of Moody's reaction as was Raven. She cleared her throat and continued the interrogation. Raven was not unhappy about the change.

"We know you, of course, from Hogwarts. Some, at least. You were in Ravenclaw, right?" Raven nodded.

"Wonderful. Were you informed by Dumbledore what your task will be?"

"Fully. Otherwise I wouldn't come here. I mean, it's kind of muggy." She thought that would be a nice joke, but nobody laughed. Also Lily Potter ignored her attempt to raise the spirits and continued:

"Ok. See, we have a problem about trusting people. That might seem mean considering that we don't know you really, but that's exactly the point. We lost some members already, some switched sides, some were killed. We have enough experience in loosing people and in being mucked. But we are just a few. And Dumbledore trusts you. So we trust you. At least we'll try." Lily Evans ones talked to Raven in Hogwarts. Back then, she had the exact same strict expression on her face and was talking down to her. She was headgirl at the time. Raven therefore wasn't too surprised about her speech, but James Potter watched Lily slightly amused. He whispered something in her ear that made Lily's mouth twitch just a bit. Fast, she composed herself again and looked at Raven.

"So, that's it for the moment I guess. Guys, has anyone anymore questions for her?" Moody did a second attempt.

"I wanna know why Dumble'ore trusts a girl that ones killed someone."

Raven felt the heat rise, in the room and in her head. How does he know? Long seconds of silence past, everybody in the room turned to someone next to them and started to whisper. Raven could hear parts of it, it sounded like sizzling noise from many newspapers.

"He never made mistakes before..."

"Why her?..."

"What does she want with that Raven anyway? Creepy, how he sits in the corner..."

The air was so thick and she couldn't stand how everybody was talking, just not to her. Wasn't the question directed at her? She looked at Moody again, who seemed the only one not talking. He was still focused on her. Raven just moved her mouth. She knew he would read her lips, and he wouldn't understand her anyway above the sizzling.

"I was so young. I can't even remember it."

"I don't care!" Shouted Moody over all other heads. Of course, another silence followed. Raven began to shake and stood up. She wanted to leave the room. As she stepped into the corridor, her bird flew outside before she closed the wooden door.

_Thanks for reading! If you leave some reviews, the next chapter won't take long. I neeeed feedback, because, as you may already noticed, my mother tongue is not English. Conclusion: Feedback and beta reader pleaaase! Just imagine reviews would be money...then I couldn't even buy a bread __J_


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